Greatest Maritime Disaster in History

[cairns]

..it will surprise most of you I suspect.

Wilhelm Gustloff - The Greatest Ship Disaster and Sinking in History

[GDNF2ET]

What irks me about that story is how it was neatly swept under the rug so the healing process could start after the war....Its sad that no hard numbers exist to who and how many were aboard, but even the low ball estimate is huge..

[varmint]

dresden fire bombing, warsaw, soviet army raping everything that moved, concentration camps being discovered, etc. easy to forget 10,000 dead refugees that year.



history channel had a show on it back in the old days before they went all pawn all the time.

[intakexhaust]

I don't know of the History Channel but there was a made for TV movie - drama some years back (English version) title the Crimson Ocean based on the Gustloff. Might be able to find a DVD???

edit: Thanks for the History Channel tip - just found on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ufWAflyB88

[Jeff Higgins]

Maritime Disaster has always had the connotation of being some sort of accident. I can see why the intentional sinking of an enemy ship during wartime would not be counted among the rest.

[Aragorn]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

Maritime Disaster has always had the connotation of being some sort of accident. I can see why the intentional sinking of an enemy ship during wartime would not be counted among the rest.

Lusitania?

I think it has to do more with how we view the enemy. Some of us on this board were on the side of the alies. We see tragadies like the Lusitania as an atrocity and not a sinking of an enemy ship. The same goes for the sinking of the Gustloff. I think both were great losses in both lives and history.

[varmint]

the guslav was officially carrying troops. that made it a legal target. the fact that the majority on board were women and children doesn't change that.

a century later divers found munitions in the hold of the lusitania. which made it a legal target as well. but the admiralty did a masterful job of covering it up.

[techweenie]

Originally Posted by varmint

the guslav was officially carrying troops. that made it a legal target. the fact that the majority on board were women and children doesn't change that.

a century later divers found munitions in the hold of the lusitania. which made it a legal target as well. but the admiralty did a masterful job of covering it up.

Lots of coverups in international incidents. As well as "incidents" like Gulf of Tonkin. For an example of the former, research USS Liberty.